Past Speakers (2018)

Dennis Dienno is Vice President of Global Service Parts Planning for Dell Technologies and is based in Austin Texas. In this role Dennis is responsible for setting Global Service Parts Planning Strategy and Execution across APJ, EMEA and the Americas regions. 

Dennis has over 45 years in the services industry with extensive experience in all aspects of Supply Chain, Field Service, Technical Support and Procurement having managed all functions in both the Americas and APJ regions. Dennis’s also has extensive international experience having done international assignments in China, Ireland, Latin America and Malaysia. 

Prior to coming to Dell in 1998, Dennis has held senior leadership roles at TRW Customer Service Division, Computerland, and Vanstar Corporation. 

Jeremy is responsible for leading the strategy, financial performance,operations, and risk management of a multi-billion dollar portfolio of non-new inventory within the Recommerce and Reverse Logistics Supply Chain for Best Buy, including inventory across customer returns, damages, trade-in, end of life, recall, recycling, waste, and/or other nontraditional inventory streams. Jeremy also leads a cross-functional team consisting of operations, technology, business development, sales, analytics, inventory management, and environmental services with the goal of optimizing recovery, building sustainable operational processes, and the development of recommerce and reverse logistics technologies.

Jordan Sielaff is the Director of Category Management at eBay and is an avid supporter of closing the loop for brand manufacturers and retailers. Jordan’s team partners with top Sellers and Brands to utilize eBay marketplace to maximize value on products at all points within the product lifecycle. EBay has a Customer for every condition product that is generated throughout the product lifecycle, and Consumer Returns are key source of products that fuel eBay’s deal hunter customer base demand. 

Nate Omann has been with Best Buy for 18 years working in Services, on Merchant Teams and as a Program Lead.  Currently, he is a Reverse Logistics Director where he and his team are setting strategy & leading efforts to reduce Returns/Exchanges & Product Damages while improving Customer & Retail experiences. Nate works closely with Product Vendors, Merchants and many other Internal teams to identify areas of opportunity.  In addition, his team builds analytical tools to help identify solutions for problematic skus, locations and processes.  

John has been with Bose for 2 years and has been in the Global Customer Service practice for the duration.    

John leads Bose’s Global Customer Service strategy and operations (Call Centers, Digital Service, Quality, Vendor Management), which supports 19 languages in sales theaters around the globe. 

Prior to joining Bose, John held similar Customer Service roles in Motorola, a Lenovo Company and Optum Rx, a division of United Healthcare. 

Richie Proud is Vice President of Merchandise Planning, Allocation, and Product Insights for Groupe Dynamite in Montreal, Canada - parent company of Garage & Dynamite female clothing brands and one of the top fashion retailers in Canada.  He is responsible for the global inventory management & product financial strategies across the 350+ worldwide stores of Groupe Dynamite.

Richie’s retail career started with Abercrombie & Fitch where he had success as both a Merchant and a Merchandise Planner.  As the Senior Director of Merchandise Planning, Richie led A&F’s international transformation initiative - a fleet review of all international store locations to optimize sales, inventory, and real estate strategies.  Prior to joining Groupe Dynamite, Richie led the Merchandise Planning & Allocation teams for American Signature, Inc - owner of Value City Furniture and American Signature Furniture.  He has extensive international supply chain experience - building strong relationships with factories, suppliers, and vendors all over Asia and South America.

Kirstin joins the Consumer Returns speaker list again this year, with close to 20 years of experience between IBM and Lenovo.  Kirstin has spent time within both the Personal Computing and Data Center spaces, and has extensive knowledge of end to end supply chain functions including customer fulfillment, demand planning, customer experience, inventory control, forward logistics, and reverse logistics.  Over the last 3 years, Kirstin has expanded her role in the management of excess, obsolete, returned, and off lease inventory, managing the disposition of both finished goods as well as components around the world.  Kirstin’s role now includes the management of all excess inventory activities for Lenovo’s North America Personal Computing & Devices Group, the Worldwide Data Center Group, and most recently the North America Services Team.  Removing the silos found in large corporations and streamlining the reverse logistics processes continues to be Kirstin’s areas of focus and expertise.  Her knowledge of refurbishment and the secondary market propels her forward in the quest for the perfect balance among the corporate directives of financials, on hand inventory, and disposition management.

Darleen Arisco has been with HP for 32 years.  She has held various positions within Procurement, Sales & Marketing, Sales Operations and Supply Chain.  Darleen has over 28 years’ experience in B-Goods re-marketing where she was responsible for strategy and execution of the HP Remarketing program.  In her current role, Darleen is responsible for managing the HP Alternative Recovery Programs. In this role Darleen is responsible for managing alternative routes to market for PC and Print products. 

Joseph Bobko is the VP of Transportation at Boxed, where he leads the company's inbound and outbound transportation activities, responsible for continuous service improvement and cost reduction.  Joe’s career in Transportation and Logistics began at UPS, where he served in various roles in Operations, Finance and Accounting, and Customer Systems.  Recruited away from UPS, he joined CD&L, a national courier company, where he grew revenues, and drastically reduced operating expenses in the northeastern US.  In 2000, he moved from the carrier’s side of the table to the shipper’s side, and filled key roles with WW Grainger (Northeast Transportation Manager), AmerisourceBergen (Corporate Director of Transportation), and ToysRUs (Director of Ecommerce Transportation).  Joe has a BS in Public Accounting, has two children, and resides in Metuchen, New Jersey.

Karri LaBree has been at Microsoft for 20 years in various positions including Supply Chain IT, Finance, Business Management and Retail Channel. Prior to Microsoft, she spent five years at The Boeing Company including two years in Internal Audit.  Over the last two years, Karri has been leading Microsoft's Recovery Channel, ensuring compliant and effective processes, through a global network of suppliers, for the disposition of aged, excess and returned inventory suitable for liquidation or recycling. Karri works closely with internal stakeholders and her Suppliers to continually improve processes while seeking greater opportunities for recoveries, re-use and other sustainability programs. Karri is a graduate from Washington State University with a degree in Business Management.

Brian oversees the Secondary Market Channel Management and Business Development within Best Buy’s Recommerce & Reverse Logistics Supply Chain.  Brian has been with Best Buy for over 10 years, holding various roles within Enterprise Finance before joining the Recommerce space to help Best Buy build an industry leading Trade-in Capability and bring Best Buy into the Retail Brick & Mortar Outlet Store game.  Brian holds a B.S. in Economics from Minnesota St Univ, Mankato and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas.

Angela Sposito entrepreneur and philanthropist is CEO of King Club Express an international commerce platform and  freight forwarder company. She is Psychologist, specialist  in Applied Behavioral Analysis, PsyOps, Business Coaching, Global Management and Marketing, before her recently start-up, she works for known international companies as a consultant in organizational engineering, international cooperation, public relations and business development, such as Fujitsu Global, Command Consulting Group (a company chaired by the former director of the American Secret Service), Cascade Investment (the investment firm of Bill Gates),  Brahma Beer Company (Brazil - Venezuela). On the other hand, focusing in helping to improve live quality and human rights she is a researcher and co-autor of publications and books in the area of organized crime prevention and social behavioral change, for example Psicologia Juridica Iberoamericana (Iberoamerican Forensic Psychology by Manual Moderno), she have been Senior Adviser for the Civil Society Support Program of USAID (United States Agency for the International Development), as well project manager at UNICEF being in charge of the daily fundraising and supply channels to provide emergency food and water at the U.N. refugee camps in Syria’s borders, among others projects for World Bank and UNESCO worldwide. 

Jason Kovacs is the Director of Reverse Logistics for RevZilla, the multi-million dollar eCommerce destination for the motorcycle enthusiast often referred to as the "Zappos of motorcycle gear". RevZilla also handles logistics for their sister company Cycle Gear, the nation's largest and fastest-growing brick and mortar retailer of motorcycle parts and apparel. He manages a team across three locations that supports customer return and recovery operations. Jason has worked in the moto-retail industry for over 15 years. Before joining RevZilla, he managed eCommerce sales and supported the used vehicle sales team as the Internet Manager at a multi-line motorcycle dealership.

Erin is a manager on the reverse logistics team at U.S. Cellular, a regional wireless carrier. Our team manages the device and accessory return and repair operation. We are focused on reducing cost of repair, building out our recommerce program, and proactively responding to changes in the industry. 

Jack’s responsibility at World Vision is the perfect culmination of his work experience – including national logistics in the cellular industry, sales, executive non-profit leadership, performer, entrepreneur, father & husband.  In his role at World Vision, Jack connects with corporations to help them fight poverty through excess inventory, employee engagement and their philanthropy goals.

Julie Bray became Senior Manager, RTV and Returns Planning for QVC in April 2018.  Her team’s shared purpose is the reduction of distressed inventory while maximizing recovery. With a focus on education, communication and relationship building, we are able to build and maintain a dynamic and robust reverse logistics platform in support of our customer and vendor community.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Humanities from Villanova University.

Victoria Brown is a Research Manager supporting both IDC Retail Insights and IDC Manufacturing Insights. In this role, she spearheads the global supply chain execution research program, covering critical topics such as inventory management, warehouse management, logistics, and omni-channel distributed order orchestration to support IT leaders at top retailers around the globe.  

Victoria serves the Council of Supply Chain Professionals (CSCMP) national board on the Young Professionals Committee, and also serves as a Director at Large for the Boston Chapter of the American Production and Inventory Controls Society (APICS).

Prior to joining IDC in 2015, Victoria served as a supply chain leader for Frito Lay North America where she oversaw daily warehouse operations and network optimization.  Earlier in her career, Victoria spent time in Software Quality in supply chains within Vistaprint, and was responsible for new product roll outs.  She has also worked with Procter & Gamble on some of their Warehouse re-designs, and network inefficiencies.

Mr. Henderson is the chairman and CEO of BILT Incorporated, a SaaS company he co-founded in 2015.  Under his leadership, BILT has grown from an idea to improve assembly instructions to a consumer experience revolution fundamentally changing the way consumers interact with the brands and products they buy.  BILT’s 3D interactive Intelligent Instructions® connect users to manufacturers and provide a dramatic increase in positive customer sentiment (NPS) while reducing product return rates and customer support costs.  Prior to BILT, he spent 17 years at SAP where he filled various roles to include:  consulting project manager, applications consultant, SRM product manager, global lead for partner programs and senior director for business growth initiatives.  As the senior director for enterprise mobility, he built mobile applications for some of the world’s greatest companies.  He also drove sales and the positioning and packaging of all mobile applications across North America.  Mr. Henderson graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in manufacturing engineering technology and the Thunderbird School of Global Management with an MBA in international business.

Dr. Qureshi is the president & COO of BILT Incorporated. As co-founder, he helped guide BILT’s spin-out from SAP, set up the operational infrastructure and conduct business development.  Prior to BILT, he co-founded the Harbinger Technologies Group, a software and consulting company focused on intelligence and security solutions where he helped develop entity resolution software and lead training events.  Before 9/11, he was VP of global business development at INVESTools, an early internet pioneer, delivering SaaS solutions to financial investors.  Dr. Qureshi has a BA from Brigham Young University, an MBA in international business from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, a PhD from King’s College, University of London and was a Fulbright grantee to the University of Jordan.  During his 25 years of military service, he has supported various contingency operations around the world and has completed the Naval War College command and staff program and the Joint Forces Staff College-Joint Combined Warfighting School.

Guangzhi Shang received his PhD from University of South Carolina and his undergraduate degree from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He also studied at the Seoul National University. He is a native of Ningbo, China. His current research centers around the emerging topic of consumer returns, looking into the returns problem from a variety of angles, such as a retailer's optimal pricing, the forecasting of return quantities, and the measurement of a return policy's value to consumers. Dr. Shang has given research seminars on returns at institutions such as University of Maryland and University of Arkansas. He has published in leading academic journals including Production and Operations Management Journal and Journal of Operations Management. Dr. Shang has strong interests in building ties with the industry and working on practically relevant data-driven research.

Alexandra joined PCS in 2013. Prior to joining PCS Wireless, Alexandra worked as an architect and earned her Master of Architecture at Parsons the New School. In her role as VP of Business Development, she heads the acquisition of new, pre-owned, reconditioned, and EOL products for the closed market division of PCS Wireless. She is fiercely committed to building long-lasting and proactive business partnerships. Alexandra has been instrumental in constructing PCS’ Retail strategy, which includes e-Commerce initiatives and works directly with its major Carrier, Retail and OEM partners. She continues to look at new opportunities, focusing on up-and-coming technologies like VR, AR, wearables and other connected personal and home devices.

Alexandra is also actively involved in charitable endeavors, focusing on education and the empowerment of young women in tech. In 2017, she worked with CEO Ben Nash to design and implement the Giving Project at PCS Wireless, which was founded to engage and empower individuals through collective giving across the PCS community.

Patrick Wiedemann , an industrial engineering graduate, joined RLG as CFO in June 2010.  He was appointed CEO in January 2012 and is today responsible for the RLG Group, its global subsidiaries, in addition, CEO of  Reverse Logistics GmbH and CCR Logistics Systems AG.  His vision has been  for a truly sustainable economy that works without waste, saves resources and is restorative by its circular economy.  Through Patrick’s leadership the Group is recognized as a global leader who provide innovative, comprehensive returns management solutions enabling manufacturers and distributors to actively drive product and commodity returns thus facilitating multiple cycles of use. Today RLG work in partnership with Government Agencies, OEM’s and G500 organizations in the delivery of returns management solutions ensuring Circular economy, smarter business rules, better customer experiences and driving additional sales revenues.

Today RLG’s global footprint includes  22 offices, 34 subsidiaries with over 500 employee’s operating in 80 countries – a footprint which is growing year on year .

Chris Cloutier has spent his career turning environmental challenges into economic opportunity. As Director of Sustainability for CoreCentric Solutions, he is helping define CoreCentric’s sustainability goals and the pathway to achieving them. Chris has previously managed the State of Minnesota’s Recycling Market Development Program, set-up and ran Best Buy’s first-ever e-scrap recycling program, served on the Board of the National Recycling Coalition and served as a recycling subject-matter expert for the US EPA and US DOE and several Fortune 500 retailers. 

Gaurav Saran is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with a passion for leveraging disruptive and emerging technologies to provide innovative enterprise solutions. Gaurav is the founder of successful startups including ReverseLogix (SaaS platform for end to end reverse logistics management), BrandMapz (digital marketing platform) and CloudXtension (mobile and cloud development services company). As founder and CEO of ReverseLogix, Gaurav brings deep industry expertise and is responsible for driving the overall company direction and product strategy. His ability to combine customer vision with methodical execution and thought leadership has positioned the company as a game changer in its field. Previously, he was with Microsoft for over six years, leading enterprise sales for Fortune 500 companies and driving strategic executive relationships. Prior to Microsoft, Gaurav has worked at Silicon Valley start-ups such as Zoho, executing strategy, business development, sales and marketing, taking them from early stages to established growth companies. Gaurav holds a BS in ecommerce marketing and telecommunications and an MBA in global strategic management from California State University, Hayward.

Rob Zomok is President of Global Operations. He joined Inmar in this role in January 2016. Rob brings tremendous global supply chain leadership experience to Inmar. During his 20-year career, he has gained a reputation for making significant domestic and international supply chain operational improvements for companies such as Hershey, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Meguiar’s. He also served as Lead Faculty Area Chair for the University of Phoenix School of Business, where he taught graduate-level and undergraduate-level courses in management theory, strategic planning, economics and organizational behavior. Rob also was Senior Director of Client Solutions and Analytics, and Director of Operations for the Northeast Region for Inmar.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering with Distinction and an MBA from Penn State University.

Eric Moriarty serves as Vice President of B-Stock Solutions. Eric joined B-Stock in 2010 and has since grown the company’s client base by over 500%. He’s responsible for establishing and overseeing partnerships with some of B-Stock’s largest clients including Amazon, Whirlpool, Wayfair, Sears Holdings, and Lowe’s.

Eric has decades of experience building successful B2B and B2C online marketplaces. Before B-Stock, Eric served as eBay’s first category manager and was a key contributor in developing and implementing category strategies, including writing the original business plan for category management. He later launched eBay’s New Business Group, incubating categories including Baby, Health & Beauty, Food & Wine, Gift Certificates and Aviation. He is responsible for some of the most expensive items ever sold on eBay, including Mark McGwire's 70th Home Run baseball that sold for $3M, and a $4.9M business jet.

After eBay, Eric founded an Internet retailing business in 2003 selling excess inventory from manufacturers on eBay and other Internet channels. In 2009, he became the CEO for Datalette, an online marketplace for data. He was a part of the founding team that launched the site, and signed up the company's first 10 data partners; the company was sold to Bloomberg in 2010. 

Eric has an MBA from Babson College and a BA from Bowdoin College.

Mike has worked at C.H. Robinson for 18 years.  Over the last 9 years he’s been a part of the Reverse Logistics office focusing on and developing service lines to support supply chain efficiencies in the secondary market.  He has worked closely with B-Stock Solutions for the last 5 years providing customized logistics solutions for their clients in the private market place space.  Today, he manages a team of 13 and supports 12 different market places offering services ranging from TL, LTL, consolidation, cross docking, warehousing, inventory management, etc.

Kristin Secreto is the Vice President and General Manager of InComm Product Control (IPC). Since onboarding in 2001 Kristin has played an integral part in business development, operational planning, and service implementation. Through her leadership and dedicated workforce IPC has established itself as the most comprehensive returns management solution suite in the industry providing policy management, benefit denial solutions, and actionable analytics globally to retailers and manufacturers. 

Prior to joining IPC Kristin worked in the software, hardware, and internet technology industries as account and operations managers. She developed strong business relationships with retailers and manufacturers in the US, Canada, Mexico, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. With over 30 years of experience supporting customers and innovative technologies, Kristin’s vast knowledge of product sales lifecycle tracking within the retail and manufacturing industries is unparalleled.

Kristin holds a Bachelor degree in Finance from The University of Washington. She resides in Woodinville, Washington with her husband and enjoys golf, cooking, and spending time with her family.

Bob Mullaney, an industry leader with over 25 years of specialized senior level experience in Supply Chain Management, Reverse Logistics,  Computer Refurbishment / Repair & Mobility is the CEO at IT Asset Partners.  

He has founded companies such as Technology Service Logistics, Inc. (TSLI) & held VP and Senior VP positions with Solectron, Flextronics, Syncreon, Recellular and Synnex. 

He comes to ITAP with a proven track record of leadership, technical knowledge & operations experience & is committed to sharing his expertise in the service and support of our client partners. 

Liquidity Services helps hundreds of the world’s top retailers and consumer OEMs maximize return for overstock and returned inventory while enhancing and protecting their brands through multi-channel remarketing, return to vendor outsourcing, and product refurbishment. Under his leadership, the team provides clients with better service, scale, and results than any other provider, ensuring the full value of their surplus is captured. Jim previously served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Liquidity Services from 2005 to 2015. 

Jeff’s focus at Liquidity Services is to develop and support innovative technology and processes that create value for clients in the areas of multi-channel remarketing, return to vendor outsourcing, and product refurbishment.  Prior to joining Liquidity Services, Jeff was VP of Supply Chain Operations at Random House, Inc.  Jeff has a degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Northwestern University.

As Director of Business Development & Technology for Consumer Priority Service, Gabriel is responsible for new business integration, managing IT, creating custom warranty programs for fortune 500 companies, and developing new business opportunities for CPS. He has spearheaded multiple programs, including building the administration operating system that CPS uses to operate, and developing the returns management arm of the organization. 

Gabriel has always been an overachiever and always “goes the extra mile”. His career began on Wall Street where he earned multiple financial licenses including Series 7, 63, 55 and 24. With very hard work, he became a partner in a brokerage firm and later a discount trading firm. Recognizing opportunity very early into the internet boom, Gabriel left the financial world to become a co-founder in an e-commerce venture which in less than 2 years operated a dozen websites and produced over $100 million in revenue. Again, seeing an opportunity, Gabriel went on to help co-found Consumer Priority Service. Together with his brothers and a cousin, Gabriel has helped develop CPS into what it has become today. 

Through it all, Gabriel is very much a family man and always makes time for his beautiful wife, Amy, and their four children. He thoroughly enjoys family vacations and playing chess in whatever free time he can find.

Garrett Freehling helps introduce world-class customer feedback management to companies who know that the customer experience is their best differentiator in today’s business environment. Ask him about lifeguarding and organic food delivery. 

Shane Oren brings a passion for customer experience to his role leading our sales team for the Americas region at NICE Satmetrix. He helps new customers learn how the right approach to gathering customer feedback and data can transform their business and deliver lasting differentiation. Ask him about coaching soccer, leading a Girl Scout troop, and auctioneering.

Jeff Battaglia is Vice President of Inmar’s Supply Chain Network. He joined Inmar in 2017 after spending over 30 years at United Parcel Service “UPS”. While at UPS, he held a variety of management positions including SVP of Sales and Marketing for UPS Capital, VP of Sales, VP of Supply Chain Solutions. Under his leadership UPS developed a number of new products and service that provided supply chain financing, eCommerce, Omni-channel, and global logistics solutions to thousands of UPS customers. Jeff was part of the UPS IPO team that took UPS public in 1999. Early in his UPS career he held various positions in Operations, Legal, Accounting, and Finance. 

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance from West Virginia University and a JD in Law from Southern California Law School.

Antonia Kay is a Senior Conference Producer at Worldwide Business Research (WBR). She has worked in event production since 2013 and is currently responsible for project management, market research, content creation, and speaker recruitment for best-in-class manufacturing, retail and medical device conferences that bring together executive leaders from Fortune 500 organizations and innovative start-ups for a collaborative debate about the latest digital transformation trends, the evolution of customer care, and regulatory compliance.

Prior to joining WBR, Antonia held various roles in advertising/PR, operations and immigration-through-investment consulting.

Antonia holds a B.A. degree in Journalism from CUNY and a B.A. degree in Education from A.S. Pushkin Brest State University. Originally from Belarus, she speaks six languages and enjoys traveling the world and exploring foreign cultures and traditions.